Mick Lincoln, head of Denes High School, in Yarmouth Road, said the decision to highlight the school in this way was difficult to understand.

A LOWESTOFT headteacher has attacked the Government after his school was labelled as “failing” earlier this week.

Mick Lincoln, head of Denes High School, in Yarmouth Road, said the decision to highlight the school in this way was difficult to understand.

The school was one of four high schools in Suffolk that have been warned that unless they reach a target of 30pc of pupils gaining five or more A*-C GCSEs, including maths and English, by 2011 they face the risk of being closed or replaced with an academy.

The latest figures for Denes shows a pass rate of pupils achieving five or more A*-C GCSEs of 28pc.

“I reject uttlerly the Government's attempt to label the Denes a so-called 'failing' school. The Denes is a good school. That is not just my judgement but is what our Ofsted inspectors said. I cannot understand why the Government has set an arbitrary target of 30pc of pupils achieving five or more GCSEs at these grades,” said Mr Lincoln.

“If they had considered the improvement made by pupils between key stage two and key stage four then Denes would have been in the top 20pc of the country.

“We tell our pupils that they are the Denes so for the school to be labelled in this way does nothing to help their esteem. It is very unfair,” he said.

Mr Lincoln also pointed out that reports from employers who had taken pupils from the Denes on work experience showed how well they are doing.

Mr Lincoln has been backed by Martin Goold, Suffolk secretary of the National Union of Teachers.

“There is no rhyme or reason in getting picked for this blacklist - it is sheer politics, not education. But it is a disastrous move if you really want to encourage schools to carry on and make improvements,” he said.

Mr Goold said he believed the Government was looking to force schools in difficult catchment areas to become academies for their own political reasons.